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Emergency Bulletin On BC Wildfires

(posted August 29, 2003)

Dateline: Friday August 29, 2003 If you are about to leave for a hunt in southern British Columbia, you'll want to check in with your outfitter right away, as all backcountry travel in the entire bottom third of the province has been banned due to wildfires. The restricted area stretches across the province from southern Vancouver Island to the Alberta border and down from Clearwater to the US border. The region includes two of the most important hunting areas, namely the Kootenay and the Okanagan areas. At this writing, closures are expected to remain in place until September 15. This is bad news for hunters heading that way for an elk hunt, as the archery season opens on Monday, September 1 and the rifle season opens September 10.

Just don't cancel your hunt quite yet. As this is written, Dale Drown, Director for the Guide Outfitters Association of British Columbia, is on his way to Victoria to meet with government officials about issuing an exemption to the travel ban for guide/outfitters and their clients. Drown was hopeful officials would work with his organization to allow hunters into the field where fires are not actually burning. "This is a huge region, with lots of variances in conditions. While some places are dry, others have seen snow and rain," Drown told The Hunting Report via cell phone on Friday afternoon while en route to Victoria. "This government is very supportive of the hunting guide/outfitter industry, and I am hopeful that they will either reduce the travel ban to specific trouble areas or issue a blanket exemption for hunting professionals and their clients."

Drown expected to have some kind of answer as early as this evening, and he promised to call us immediately with any news. Over the holiday weekend, we will post what we learn on our web site as soon as it comes in.

In the meantime, our advice is to get in touch, and stay in touch, with your outfitter if you have a hunt planned in southern BC. Also, do note that the travel ban only affects the bottom third of the province. The rest of British Columbia is open and completely unaffected by the fires. - Barbara Crown, Managing Editor, The Hunting Report.

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